Choosing Mayor by popular vote is popular, as is one Councillor

More than 63 per cent of people who participated in a Coast Community News survey said they would prefer the mayor of the Central Coast be elected by popular vote.

A total of 366 people responded to the survey; with 233 voting yes, they would like the opportunity to vote for the mayor directly.

The survey asked two questions.

Question one asked if residents should elect the mayor directly, a 63.7 per cent majority said yes; while 18.3 per cent said no; another 18 per cent said they didn’t care (see pie chart).

Question two asked who should be mayor and listed the names of the councillors in random order.

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The real vote for the Central Coast mayor will be taken on Tuesday, October 8, by the elected councillors at the council chambers in Wyong, starting at 6.30pm.

If the Coast Community News survey is on-trend, the majority vote is for Team Central Coast councillor Lawrie McKinna.

The CCN survey saw 27 per cent vote for McKinna, previously a mayor on the former Gosford Council.

Next came Labor’s Kyle MacGregor, who scored 17 per cent. He was one of the councillors suspended in 2020 when Central Coast Council went into administration.

The third choice was Independent Corinne Lamont on 11 per cent.

Lamont has been a community activist against building a seawall at Wamberal Beach and is one of the six new faces on Council.

Fourth was Liberal Jared Wright on nine per cent.

In fifth place in the mayoral stakes was former mayor Jane Smith with 21 votes; and two new councillors Liberal Trent McWaide and Team Central Coast’s Kyla Daniels, scored 19 votes each.

Labor’s Belinda Neal came next with 16 votes.

Behind her were John Mouland from Team Central Coast and Liberal Doug Eaton both attracting 12 votes.

Only people who came to the survey on the CCN website voted.

It was promoted on CCN’s social media sites and Central Coast Council Watch Facebook page and ran from midday October 3 to midday October 7.

Most of the voters were aged in their 30s, 40s, and 50s with an almost even split of male and female participants.

The real mayoral vote takes place with 14 councillors expected to be physically at the meeting and one, Team Central Coast’s John Mouland, attending from Europe by audio-visual (AV) link.

The first item on the agenda is a recommendation from Council’s Department of Corporate Services that the councillors approve the request by Cr Mouland to attend the meeting via AV link as he is unable to attend in person. 

As long as the AV link works, he is taken to be present at the meeting and may participate in the decision on whether he can stay for the meeting. 

If he has that approved, the next hurdle will be whether he can vote for the mayor.

A councillor attending by AV link will only be able to participate in the election of the mayor and deputy mayor if the Council resolves to conduct those elections by way of open voting. 

Council’s agenda papers explain that the election of the mayor and deputy mayor may proceed by one of three methods: open voting (show of hands), ordinary ballot, or preferential ballot. 

“The Office of Local Government Post-election Guide for Councils states that councillors need to be present at the meeting in person to participate in voting by ordinary or preferential ballot,” the Council said.

So, if the councillors decide to vote by ballot Cr Mouland will not be able to vote, which opens the possibility that the vote could be split 7-7, leaving the final decision to chance: the mayor would be the first name to come out of a hat – or similar container.

Note: The survey is indicative only and does not claim to be statistically accurate.

Words by Merilyn Vale, Survey by David Abrahams